At the outset, the fact should be recognized that the community of
fishermen constitute a separate class or a sub-race among the
inhabitants of the earth. It has sometimes been said that fishermen
cannot be manufactured. This is true to the extent that nothing can
supply the lack of certain inherent, constitutional and inborn qualities
or traits which are absolutely necessary to a fisherman's make-up. Of
course there are many who call themselves fishermen and who insist upon
their membership in the fraternity who have not in their veins a drop of
legitimate fisherman blood. Their self-asserted relationship is
nevertheless sometimes seized upon by malicious or ignorant critics as
permitting the assumption that the weaknesses and sins of these
pretenders are the weaknesses and sins of genuine fishermen; but in
truth these pretenders are only interlopers who have learned a little
fish language, who love to fish only "when they bite," who whine at bad
luck, who betray incredulity when they hear a rousing fish story, and
who do or leave undone many other things fatal to good and regular
standing. They are like certain whites called squaw-men, who hang about
Indian reservations, and gain certain advantages in the tribes by
marrying full-blooded Indian women. Surely no just person would for a
moment suppose that genuine Indians could be treated fairly by measuring
them according to a squaw-man standard. Neither can genuine fishermen be
fairly treated by judging them according to the standards presented by
squaw-fishermen.
In point of fact, full-blooded fishermen whose title is clear, and whose
natural qualifications are undisputed, have ideas, habits of thought and
mental tendencies so peculiarly and especially their own, and their
beliefs and code of ethics are so exclusively fitted to their needs and
surroundings, that an attempt on the part of strangers to speak or write
concerning the character or conduct of its approved membership savors of
impudent presumption. None but fishermen can properly deal with these
delicate matters.
What sense is there in the charge of laziness sometimes made against
true fishermen? Laziness has no place in the constitution of a man who
starts at sunrise and tramps all day with only a sandwich to eat,
floundering through bushes and briers and stumbling over rocks or wading
streams in pursuit of the elusive trout. Neither can a fisherman who,
with rod in hand, sits in a boat or on a bank all day be called
lazy--provided he attends to his fishing and is physically and mentally
alert in his occupation. This charge may perhaps be truthfully made
against squaw-fishermen who become easily discouraged, who "tire and
faint" early, and lie down under the shade to sleep, or go in swimming,
or who gaze about or read a book while their hooks rest baitless on the
bottom; but how false and unfair it is to accuse regular, full-blooded
fishermen of laziness, based on such performances as these! And yet this
is absurdly done by those who cannot tell a reel from a compass, and who
by way of familiarizing themselves with their topic leave their beds at
eight o'clock in the morning, ride to an office at ten, sit at a desk
until three or perhaps five, with an hour's interval for a hearty
luncheon, and go home in the proud belief that they have done an active,
hard day's work. Fishermen find no fault with what they do in their own
affairs, nor with their conception of work; but they do insist that
such people have no right to impute laziness to those who fish.